It can still be a struggle for people to grasp exactly what Ben Affleck and Matt Damon‘s Artists Equity banner is all about or how it works. In some cases it’s even hard for its own leaders to articulate what gives the company its secret sauce.
“I think they’re beginning to understand it, but I think that people don’t really understand the ambition and scope of this business,” Amy Baer, Artists Equity’s president of film and television and the No. 2 to Matt and Ben, told IndieWire.
“It is existing to enable and preserve the art of visual storytelling,” she continued. “[Damon and Affleck] are deeply, deeply rooted in the history of film. They are cinephiles, both of them, passionate cinephiles who not only want to redefine how creatives — both in front of the camera and behind the camera — are compensated, which is obviously the foundational component of our company, the equity piece, but to also ensure that we are creating a virtuous cycle so that it can endure.”
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But Baer feels her job in explaining the Artists Equity model to people just got a little easier with the launch of the company’s new independent label, Artists Equity Independent Pictures (AEIP). The label, which will be led by former Topic Studios physical production exec Jennifer Westin as reporting to Baer, will use the same financial model that has allowed films like Artists Equity’s “Air,” “The Rip,” “Animals,” and “The Instigators” to get made. By asking talent to actually invest and take equity in the film, they take a smaller fee up front but can receive a better backend in the film’s success.
“That is the indie model, right? I spent 14 years as an independent producer. Everyone involved in every movie I made took less up front in order to help get the movie made,” Baer said. “In a typical indie film, 50 percent of the points go to the filmmaking team, the other 50 percent go to the financiers. We just say to the creative team, ‘Here’s your points. Carve it up.’ We’re not going to tell you how to do it.”
For an independent project under Artists Equity, that model can mean being able to secure a higher end editor, composer, or star who might not normally work for less. Baer views it as the same model that has served independent film for years, but with a few sweeteners in certain places.
The first project under the AEIP banner is “A Woman in the Sun,” which is written and directed by “Love of Your Life” and “Nyad” screenwriter Julia Cox and stars Renée Zellweger, Sissy Spacek, and Mia Threapleton. Black Bear is already set up as a distributor. Also just announced was Sam Jones’ “Downriver,” which will star Garrett Hedlund, Jake Lacy, and Jessica Biel.
Baer says the label is genre agnostic, but it’s not going for low budget slasher horror or experimental films, rather elevated, yet still commercial indie gems that have the potential to break out and have a clear audience in front of them.
AEIP is going to be searching for packaged projects rather than developing internally, then working with filmmakers to set an initial budget, and to identify emerging talent, be they first-time directors or fifth-timers. Baer says the worst thing this label can do is to spend money just because they have it, so things will be very judicious in the early days.
But the label was built on Damon and Affleck’s belief that there are a lot of movies that deserve a shot to get made but that shouldn’t have to rely on a 2000-screen commitment in order to even get financing. And having Matt and Ben championing those films doesn’t hurt.
“[The idea is] to really start to support the next generation of directors and writer-directors under an auspice that has the heft of being able to run the gauntlet on the marketing, distribution, promotion, and even in the packaging to a certain extent,” Baer said. “To have the two of them sitting atop the label gives a heft that I think is very unique to our company. There’s plenty of really good independent film companies out there, but I don’t think any of them have two Oscar winners sitting on top of it.”
One important distinction between AEIP movies and those under the flagship Artists Equity banner is that the indies won’t be bound by either of AE’s output deals, including Netflix for streaming and Sony Pictures for theatrical. Both of those deals require minimum budget levels that AEIP movies will typically be beneath. Netflix or Sony can still buy one if they love it.
Like those bigger budget projects though, AEIP movies will still qualify for performance bonuses if the film reaches certain viewership thresholds on streaming. That was the case with “The Rip,” in which Artists Equity paid out a percentage of the salary for each of the 1,200 crew members on the film. Baer didn’t disclose what those viewership thresholds were or how much individuals got paid in bonuses except to say it was “robust” views and a “substantial” bonus.
AEIP will need to be budget conscious and acutely aware of the audience for any of its films. “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” a musical remake starring Jennifer Lopez that premiered at Sundance, flopped hard with just $1.8 million at the box office against a $30 million budget. That movie predated Baer, but it’s a teaching moment all the same to be clear on what the market is telling you.
Baer reminds though that for all their star power today, Damon and Affleck have true indie roots, running around with Kevin Smith in the ’90s trying to get any shot they could. What she believes sets Artists Equity apart from the likes of MRC, Fifth Season, or even A24 is that they’re a company led by two A-listers who take the CEO and chief creative officer role as seriously as they do acting, writing, or directing.
“I think people really underestimate the ambition of the company. This is not a talent production company on steroids,” Baer said. “They both take that job incredibly seriously and are committed to being as nimble and as forward-facing as possible to make sure that the thing they love doing the most endures.”
The one thing Baer says is not part of her mandate is finding projects for Matt and Ben, who need no help with that. So it’s pretty unlikely that Affleck or Damon would actually star in one of these indies themselves, but they won’t be far away.
“They’re very disciplined about where they’re going to spend their time and energy, and they don’t want to leverage it just for the sake of getting things made. They want to empower other people to get things made,” Baer said. “It’s something that other companies can’t necessarily offer because those guys will get attention when they decide that they’re going to go help promote one of our films. What’s been really evident is that they’re very disciplined about we’re not going to make this and do that supporting role just so that we can justify making it. They want these things to stand on their own two feet.”